Novellas Get Short Shrift

Hey, authors: you'll need to super-size that manuscript. Because word count really counts if you want to get traditionally published. It's important to literary agents because it's important to the major publishing houses. Many will only accept for review manuscripts that meet their length requirements. American publishers want your submission to be at least 60,000 words. Or 70,000, even 80,000-plus. So start padding.

But why? What does the word count matter if the story is complete and the manuscript is polished?

The bigger the better, it seems—it's the American way. So this means an awful lot of authors are shaping their stories to fulfill the current size guidelines.

I think this is a shame. Your story is your story and should take up the space it needs and deserves. A novel is good if it tells a complete story, has depth of character, and sweeps the reader along for a full ride. That ride may only take a reader a single afternoon, or it can last for months. There are great stories that fill thick volumes, others that fill only a hundred pages—or less.

Some of my favorite novels are actually novellas. The Great Gatsby. The Postman Only Rings Twice. The Old Man and the Sea. Animal Farm. The Outsiders. The Giver. Would these books be published today by the big American publishing houses? Maybe not. Would we have missed out on some of the best literature ever written? I think so.